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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

J is for Juggling

Most of my long time readers know that I am a juggler and came from a juggling family. My father called the act "The Juggling Jacksons" because that was our last name. Besides the alliteration sounded good.

Juggling was a sideline for us. We would have loved to do it full time, but my father wisely chose the security of a regular daytime job. His career was as an accountant for an industrial contractor. And though he juggled books for a regular paycheck, his true passion was juggling objects.

So what's this have to do with marketing and promotion? We always had an agent or agents who booked shows for us, but as is often the case with anyone who has an agent sometimes you have to get out there and do things yourself to get the ball rolling--or in our case the balls and other objects tossing.

We practiced our act regularly to stay in top shape for our performances. Stage attire and props had to be kept maintained. My father was always on the lookout for new gimmicks to make our act stand out. He put a lot of thought, time, and sweat into making our act marketable.

Like The Juggling Jacksons you and your business have a juggling act underway. Some of you may be working jobs to pay the bills while you work at trying to get your passion off the ground. You are juggling family and relationships, job, education, health, relaxation time as well as the dreams of success in whatever it is you are trying to achieve.

Then there is the juggling act of your marketing efforts. What do you need to promote what you are doing? Photos, brochures, resumes, and other media? How about conferences, trade shows, or other events that will further your reach? You juggle time, money, and personal well-being and hope your act will reap some benefits of what you've put into it.

Marketing can be a real balancing act for sure. Plan your act carefully. Practice the tricks you'll be using and then when you're ready you can hit the stage and perform before a real audience. One thing you don't want to do when you're in the spotlight is drop the balls, but if you do just pick them up and act as though it's part of the act.

What are you juggling in your life? Have you achieved balance?

How about these J's:

Jenny Hansen's blog is More Cowbell. If you don't get the reference and don't fear the reaper I think you'll find out where her blog title comes from if you go there and look around.

Reversing the initials we also have Hart Johnson who blogs at Confessions of a Watery Tart, the blog where no pants are allowed and naked people get in free.

Are we bloggers a wacky bunch or what.

Finally, Michelle Jones at The Family Tales is offering a give-away at her blog. Head over to her blog and you may be a lucky winner of a a new customized blog design and/or custom header graphic. The graphic design will be created by fellow A to Z blogger, Lisa Campbell.

I am mesmerized by jugglers, but I can't do it to save my life! I had a juggling kit and followed all of the instructions ... and I can now rotate two balls. woo! lol. Fortunately, I'm way better at juggling my marketing skills - I think. It sure feels like I juggle 100 things every day at work! Thanks for the post! (Doing the A-to-Z Challenge.)

Another great connection between marketing and another activity. Another point is not to have too many balls in the air. Goes back to your focus post.- Maurice MitchellThe Geek Twins | Film Sketchr@thegeektwins | @mauricem1972

I'm starting to believe that achieving balance is a myth, but I still have hope! My juggling act is the usual stuff: family/work/house vs. writing. Writing so often has to take a back seat, but that doesn't mean I drop the ball forever. I just keep on with the routine and swoop a hand down to snatch the writing up again as soon as I can. :)

Yes, juggling is an art that I just have not mastered yet. Slowly, I am getting there. Most of last year, I was ill with something, but I feel stronger and more secure with the direction I am going in.

I'm juggling the usual - job, family, friends, writing, hobbies, etc. One thing I've finally learned is that I can't do everything, and sometimes I have to let certain things go and NOT feel guilty about it!

I haven't juggled anything for more than four or five seconds in about fifteen years, but I still catch just about everything that rolls off the counter, or out of a cabinet, or that someone throws at me, etc...

Hi Lee - great post .. certainly ball juggling is part of normal life. Your family group sounds as though it was highly professional, uptodate and fun .. and I'm sure that's where you learnt so much .. Marketing at all times of life is critical - to achieve we need to market ourselves ..

that was quite an interesting post. I really liked the way you explained things we have to care about in life through the juggling metaphor. Besides a jugglig show amazes me no ends, so it's good to hear about it.

I was going to pass by without commenting on this post Lee, but came back to say did you know juggling is one of the skills recommended for us to learn as we age? Balance, dexterity, concentration, and a certain element of being able to laugh at yourself and heaps of other good things for the brain are involved!

Go ahead and say something. Don't be afraid to speak your mind.I normally try to respond to all comments in the comment section so please remember to check the "Email follow-up comments" box if you want to participate in the comment conversation.

For Battle of the Bands voting the "Anonymous" commenting option has been made available though this version is the least preferred. If voting using "anonymous" please include in your comment your name (first only is okay) and city you are voting from and the reason you chose the artist you did.

If you know me and want to comment but don't want to do it here, then you can send me an email @ jacksonlee51 at aol dot com.

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A juggler of words and phrases. My main blog is Tossing It Out. The focus blog for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge can now be found at a-to-zchallenge.com where updates will be posted until the event in April begins.
Wrote By Rote is about memoir writing.
A Few Words is my Sunday contemplation blog.
A Faraway View is about dreams. Pick what you like or look at them all. I love blogging!